Spectology

Buh-buh-buh-bonus!  Matt & Adrian return for another "things we like", where we talk about things we like outside of the books we're reading on the pod. Links are below, listen to the ep. to hear more about each one! If the links don't show up, they'll be on spectology.com.   Adrian's things: - Otherworld Adventure LARP - Gemini Man in 120fps (here's a podcast about it) - Schitt's Creek (on Netflix)   Matt's things: - This War of Mine (on Steam) - RAQIA (song "Library of Babel" is playing in the episode) - Quanta Magazine (https://www.quantamagazine.org)   --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submit the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment. And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends! Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our mus

Sorry for the late episode this week! Real-life travel has made editing & publishing more difficult than expected. The episode's editing might be a bit rough around the edges for that as well. However, we have a really fun episode discussing Colson Whitehead's novel Zone One, a litfic novel about a man clearing zombies out of Manhattan after the apocalypse. We discuss the history of zombie movies & books, lightly touch on the problematic cultural history of zombies (which you can hear more about in our episodes with Mendez Hodes), and spend a lot of time discussing what makes a B movie.  It was a really fun episode to record, and we hope you enjoy it, outtakes and all. --- As always, we'd love to hear from you! Chat with us on twitter at @spectologypod, send us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submit the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment. And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you l

We're back for our post-read discussion of Waste Tide by Stanley Chan / Chen Qiufan! (https://amzn.to/2njvSFr) We had mixed but ultimately positive feelings about this book. It's been a great experience to read and talk about—rarely does a book present such a breadth of topics for us to cover. Matt read it in Chinese while Adrian read it in English, so we discuss the mechanics of the translation in depth, as well as how even small changes can have large effects on the over-all tone of the book.  However, it've also a book that deals with very dark subject matters, and handles some of those elements better than others. Heed our content warnings on this one. We discuss the problematic elements explored by the book in depth.  Some related works & links (if the links don't show up, they will be available in the show notes at spectology.com ) Non-fiction books about living in China: * The Corpse Walker by Liao Yiwu (https://amzn.to/2o7yBSl) * Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang (https://amzn.to/2msDvci) *

For today's episode, Matt & Adrian read an essay about Chinese Science Fiction by Chinese SF author Ning Ken, and talk about it. The essay, published as "Modern China is So Crazy It Needs a New Literary Genre" on LitHub (https://lithub.com/modern-china-is-so-crazy-it-needs-a-new-literary-genre/), outlines a subgenre of SF that (supposedly) doesn't exist in English, and discusses why it's so important in China. We take the conversation far afield pretty quickly, asking what makes a genre, whether Ultra Unreal works exist in English, how relevant these works actually are in Chinese SF, and who ultimately gets to define genre. Adrian rants a little about one particular author who annoys him online when he talks about genre, and Matt has very reasoned and smart things to say about whether it's even a good idea to argue about genre in the first place. As always, the essay is an interesting one, and we hope you'll read it in addition to listening to us argue about it. In addition, here are some other related

It's finally happening! We're diving fully into one of Matt's areas of expertise, Chinese Literature. This month we're reading Waste Tide (https://amzn.to/2N4K80g), the first novel by Chinese science fiction author Chen Qiufan (known as Stanley Chan in English), translated by Ken Liu.  The book is new to both of us, so in addition to the usual bookfacts, this episode starts with a short introduction to the sociolinguistics of the Chinese language. From there we learn about the history of modern Chinese literature w/ a focus on how speculative fiction has been received over the last century, from the earliest Chinese translations of Jules Verne to the modern resurgence of SF & Fantasy movies coming out of China, and how that relates to other literary & political movements.  Some of the works we discuss include: * Invisible Planets, edited & translated by Ken Liu * Chen Qiufan's stories at Clarkesworld (includes audio versions) * Clarkesworld Podcast * "Flower of Shazui" (set in the same world

We've finished The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin (https://amzn.to/2L9Wdh0), and have a lot to say about it as usual!  The book forced us to ask a lot of hard questions about the moral weight of actions of all of the main characters. We spend some time in a discussion on sympathetic villains and the importance of passing judgement on actions even while being sympathetic to motivations. We also discuss our own history with dreams, lucid dreaming, waking dreaming, and meditation.  Also the moon! Related & discussed links (available at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher): * Waking Life by Richard Linklater * The Dreamblood Duology by NK Jemisin (both books in 1) * The Red Book by Carl Jung * Tinariwen, desert folk/blues music from Northern Africa * The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger * Perplexities of Consciousness by Eric Schwitzgebel ("do you dream in color" studies) * Mike Boyd (learning channel on youtube) --- We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter a

Hey folks! Short description bc it's already very late & I'm trying to get this out. I may update this later w/ more info, check spectology.com in the next day or two if you'd like more links to all the other books we mention.  The book this month is The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin! It's a great book, potentially my favorite of hers. https://amzn.to/31DKqyr Matt & I spend a very long time talking about worldbuilding, different ways of doing it, books we love that do it well, etc.. It's quite the pre-read. Also, we're having some technical difficulties due to travel, so the sound is listenable but not to our usual standards. We should be better next episode, & back to normal next month. The connected short story I mentioned ("The Narcomancer") is available as a podcast here: http://podcastle.org/2010/01/05/podcastle-85-giant-episode-the-narcomancer/ NK Jemisin's worldbuilding presentation is available here: http://nkjemisin.com/2015/08/worldbuilding-101/ And finally, her patreon is: https://www

This is the first in a new series of episodes we're calling "Critical Conversations", where we take a critical work & discuss it in-depth.  This time, Matt & Adrian discuss the article "Critics: Endgame" by Soraya Roberts & published in Longreads (https://longreads.com/2019/05/03/critics-endgame/). Roberts asks what the purpose of pop culture criticism is in 2019, when fascism is ascendant and global warming is killing the planet, particularly criticism that is itself fandom. It's a critical essay which is critical of criticism, which ends up being a vital way for us to being talking about what we do on the podcast. Is it all too meta? Maybe! But it's the kind of thing we love talking about, so maybe you'll enjoy hearing us talk about it (and if not, we'll have a new pre-read next week so stay tuned for that). A few of the resources we mention in the episode:  * "Stay in your lane" originator: https://twitter.com/prisonculture  * Matt's current favorite critic: http://andrewbatson.com &

Through journeys and struggles, with the power of friendship, we did it! We recorded another episode, this time talking about Max Gladstone's latest solo novel, Empress of Forever (https://amzn.to/2ykpSOU).  We both really enjoyed this book, and were really happy to get to read a novel by a previous guest. We start the episode off with Matt explaining the ways in which the book is & is not a science fictional adaptation of the Chinese epic novel Journey to the West, and then spend a lot of time discussing redemption and forgiveness and how those two things work in this novel, and how they should work in an ideal world. Also, Orn! This was a fun book to read & fun episode to record (even if Adrian was a little loopy & feverish), so we hope you enjoy it. Some of the works mentioned in the episode (links at spectology.com if they don't show up here): * Monkey: Folk Novel of China trans. by Arthur Whaley (Matt's recommended translation of Journey to the West)  * Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny  * Co

[This episode comes with a content warning for discussions of depression, suicide, and drug overdose. It's all relevant to the works & part of a good-natured conversation, but we wanted to mention that up front.] This is an ongoing series we do every few months, going over some of the pop culture stuff we've liked recently. Some of it is SF adjacent, some of it isn't, but it's all good and enjoyable! As always, if the links below don't show up in your podcatcher, they're all in the show notes spectology.com.  Matt's things: - Yazmin Lacey, song playing in background is "90 Degrees" from the album "When the Sun Dips 90 Degrees", buy it its so good - Haiku by Basho, 17th Century Japanese Poet: http://oaks.nvg.org/basho.html  - The last one is hard to explain, you'll just have to listen for the story   Adrian's things: - Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime from the 90s that was recently re-released on Netflix - "Gen Z Music": artists mentioned include Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, Lil Peep, & Wicca P

What goes around comes around on the wheel of karma, so this month Matt & Adrian talking about the new novel from past guest Max Gladstone, Empress of Forever (https://amzn.to/2Jl9X94)!  We discuss a number of books, movies, TV shows, and RPGs in the general space opera subgenre. Here are some of the most relevant. If the links don't show up in your podcatcher, they will be available on the show notes at spectology.com.  - Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone  - This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max  - Journey to the West  - Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny  - Ten Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse (see our 10.1 & 10.2 episodes)  - Iain M Banks (see our 1.1 & 1.2 episodes on his Use of Weapons)  - Gnomon by Nick Harkaway (see our 5.1 & 5.2 episodes w/ Max as a guest)  - The New Space Opera & TNSO2, ed. Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan - Sufficiently Advanced (RPG)  - Ghibli Fest 2019 (particularly Princess Mononoke)  - Neon Genesis Evangelion (

Welcome to our final episode on Ted Chiang's newest short story collection, Exhalation (https://amzn.to/2X5A0JW). Matt & Adrian start by going through all of the stories in this collection, then go really in-depth on a few specifically, just like we did with Exhalation in our last episode (https://www.spectology.com/e/152-exhalation-post-read-re-reading-stories-philosophy-of-mind-the-heat-death-of-the-universe/).    First 30 minutes: Intro, 2-3 minutes on each story, listing our favorites 29m 10s: "The Lifecycle of Software Objects": Mental & legal frameworks for how to relate to AI 1h 01m 14s: "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom": Character development & moral thought experiments 1h 17m 02s: "Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling": How technology changes our cognition & identity 1h 29m 04s: "The Merchant & the Alchemist's Gate": Discussing the medieval Islamic setting 1h 37m 19s: "Omphalos": Short stories as jokes, young Earth creationism 1h 42m 53s: Discussing the structure, endings,

This week's minisode is an in-depth discussion of ONLY the title story from Ted Chiang's new collection, Exhalation (https://amzn.to/2RlWfVY). The story "Exhalation" is available for free online at Lightspeed magazine (http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/exhalation/), so we thought we'd start with this to whet everyone's appetite, and give new readers a chance to read something by Chiang to decide whether you want to pick up the full book.  We dig apart Matt's experience of re-reading this story (something he rarely does), discuss the meaty themes the story presents, and offer a few other stories about the process of science. It's a fun short episode, and we hope you enjoy it & stick around for next week's full dissection of all the other stories in the collection.  --- We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at spectologypod@gmail.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podc

Adrian & Matt are back on their own this month, reading & talking about the short story collection Exhalation, by Ted Chiang. A wonderful collection of short fiction, we've decided to do something a little bit different from the usual.  With this episode we talk about the power of short-form fiction, why we love Chiang's work so much, and (starting at 43:25) ask each other a couple tough philosophical questions of the type Chiang's stories attempt to answer.  Books & movies mentioned include (links help support Spectology, go to spectology.com if they're not showing up): - Exhalation, by Ted Chiang  - Stories of Your Life & Others, by Ted Chiang  - Store of the Worlds, by Robert Sheckley  - The Best Stories of JG Ballard  - Her Smoke Rose up Forever, by James Tiptree, Jr - Tobias Buckell's Patreon  - Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, ed. NK Jemisin  - The Best SF&F of the Year series, ed. Jonathan Strahan  - Interview w/ Chiang at Powel's  - Interview w/ Walter Mosley at Pari

The Demographically Similar Jenny's join us again for our post-read discussion of Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower (https://amzn.to/2EGiFvV). We liked it! We're talking about it! We loved having them on so much, go listen to their podcast (https://readingtheend.com/thepodcast/) for more great book content. (#Content for the #Content #Gods!) Other books mentioned on this podcast:  - The Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin (2nd person)  - The Inheritance Trilogy by NK Jemisin (gods as narrators)  - The Steerswoman series by Rosmary Kirstein  - Mission Child by Maureen F. McHugh (non-binary main character) - Ninefox Gambit & follow-ups by Yoon Ha Lee (non-binary characters by a trans masc author) (As always, links are at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. And if I missed something mentioned in the episode, tweet at @spectologypod or @readingtheend and we'll find it for you.) --- We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at

Our guests this month, the Demographically Similar Jennys from the Reading the End Podcast & Blog, join Adrian for a round of "Things We Like" to go over some of our favorite undersung pop culture items we want to share with everyone! We are a little punchy as we're in hour 3 of recording (this was recorded after our Raven Tower post-read, which will come out next week)! Our things are: Gin Jenny: - Into the Spider-Verse  - Batchelor Party & Here to Make Friends  - Genius (comic) vol. 1 & vol. 2  Whiskey Jenny: - Anna Atkins' Cyanotypes  - Letterkenny (on Hulu in the US) - Gar & Weever fish Adrian:  - Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (in theatres in the US)  - The OA (on Netflix in the US) - The Tick (on Amazon in the US) (As always, links are at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. And if I missed something mentioned in the episode, tweet at @spectologypod or @readingtheend and we'll find it for you.) --- For the first time ever, I forgot to call out our wonderful arti

This month, we welcome the Demographically Similar Jennys from the wonderful & charming Reading the End Podcast to Spectology to read Ann Leckie's newest book, The Raven Tower! (https://amzn.to/2VShdjK) The four of us discuss our past experiences reading both fantasy & science fiction, and how gender is used within those genres, as well as how it drives decisions about how to market those genres by the larger publishing industry.  We couldn't have more well-read, fun, & knowledgeable guests for this discussion, so we really hope you enjoy this ep, and check out the Jennys' podcast as well. A great place to start would be Adrian's guest episode from last week: https://readingtheend.com/2019/05/01/podcast-ep-117-a-spectology-crossover-event/  Works mentioned this episode include: * The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie  * Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman  * Frankenstein by Mary Shelley  * The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish * The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm * NK Jemisin's 2018 Hugo Award speec

(Uploaded the wrong file earlier, if you have 2 versions of this episode, this is the correct one.) This week we have a very special episode, as we're joined by Chris Beckett, author of April's book club selection Dark Eden. Chris was kind enough to call in from the UK to answer questions from Adrian, Matt, & Kevin (as asked by Adrian) about the book, his writing process, how he views political change, why his books don't have role models, his history with science fiction, and much more. We hope you enjoy this episode! If you like it, let us know, and we'll try to do more author interviews in the future.  Many thanks to Chris Beckett for making time for us, it was an incredibly enjoyable & thoughtful conversation. Make sure to check out Chris' most recent book, Beneath the World, a Sea, which is available in hardcover & ebook in the UK and can be shipped to the US via sellers on Amazon.  --- We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an ema

We're once again joined by Kevin Kelsey of Heradas.com to discuss Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett (https://amzn.to/2TRcpX0). We've (re-)read this book and all loved it, and have a lot to dig into! We talk about the political philosophy of the book. We discuss the psychological reality of the characters. Adrian rants about poverty for 5 minutes and why this book is personal for him, so that's on-brand. It's worth heeding the content warnings on this one, we talk in-depth about that stuff in the 2nd hour.  A few of the resources we mention: - The sequels, Mother of Eden & Daughter of Eden—worth reading! - NK Jemisin's review of Dark Eden in the NY Times  - Our own episodes on Semiosis  - The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin  - Critique of The Cold Equations by Cory Doctorow - Chris's Q&A on the SF Book Club subreddit  - And if you're in the UK, pre-order Beckett's new book, Beneath the World, A Sea  (As always, links are at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. And if I missed something m

To celebrate having been at the podcast for one full year, Matt & Adrian are joined by Kevin Kelsey of Heradas.com as we make our most self-indulgent pick yet: Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett (https://amzn.to/2TRcpX0). Join us for a somewhat self-reflective episode on why this is one of our favorite books, and why we think everyone should read it. It has linguistics, it has sociology, it has long time scales, it has survival in a harsh world, it has society building, it has a page-turning story, and it is probably the book we've mentioned the most on this podcast without actually reading and talking about it in its own episodes. Kevin joins us to help us ground the conversation for folks who haven't read the book yet, and in a few weeks we'll all three dig into the rich thematic depth of this novel. Some other works mentioned include: - Chris's Q&A on the SF Book Club subreddit  - Chris on his history being labeled disabled  - NK Jemisin's review of Dark Eden in the NY Times  - Review by a juror on th